The day we came full circle October 22, 2013

 The day we came full circle

October 22, 2013

Hubby's off days are Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and we both like to take day trips.

We buy lottery tickets every other week using the same numbers; we have never won much money.

Our day started with the drive to St. Joe, Tennessee, to buy lottery tickets and scratch-offs. 

I guess it was my lucky day, for I won $19.00.

We stopped at the US Post Office in St. Joe to drop off a letter to my daughter, Lora, containing her birth Certificate. 

We ate lunch at Long John's Silvers in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee. I ordered shrimp, and Travis ordered a large seafood plate; we spent $12.00.

We stopped in at Duncan's for some fresh vegetables. We purchased bananas, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, peanuts, and two freshly made fried pies. 

Instead of coming back home on Highway 43, we decided to take the scenic drive through Natchez Trace.

We rode west on Highway 64; I was taking pictures along the way of old barns, silos, and animals.

We turned right onto the Natchez Trace at mile marker 370, headed south. 

Along the way, we stopped at Sweetwater Branch, McGlamery Stand, and the Collinwood rest area to use the restroom.

At the rest area, a man was playing some sort of instrument, and we started talking.

We talked about Unions, Bell South (from which he was retired), the economy, and the government. 

I think this man could have talked all day, but someone came in asking for information, and I said thank you and left. 

We got back on the Trace heading south. Our next stop was the Alabama-Tennessee state line. 

This marker explained that John Coffee, a general under Andrew Jackson, supervised the surveying of the line between the two states from 1817 to 1822.

The marker had the seals of Alabama and Tennessee on either side. 

The seal of Tennessee:  The Great Seal of the State of Tennessee, 1796, Agriculture and Commerce

The Alabama Seal: Alabama Great Seal depicting a map of the great state of Alabama with its four bordering states of Tennessee to the North, Georgia to the East, Mississippi to the West, and Florida to the South. 

Our next stop was in the middle of the Colbert Ferry Bridge, which connects Colbert and Lauderdale Counties, and I got out of the van and started snapping pictures. 

These counties are facing one another, both with a view of the Tennessee River and each with a hint of autumn.

Our next stop was Colbert's Stand, where Levi Colbert, a Chickasaw chief, operated a ferry across the Tennessee River from 1800 to 1819.

We then drove down to the edge of the Tennessee River on the Colbert Side so I could take some more pictures. 

We stopped at the restroom on the trail, and I met a couple eating a picnic lunch or snack. They had parked their bicycles; the bicycles were two steps higher than a regular bicycle. I had to ask how hard they were to ride.

They said Do you want to try? I said No thanks; the last time I rode a bicycle, I was struck by lightning. I went on to tell them about my lightning experience.

The girl said, "You are the only person I know who has been hit by lightning."

I said goodbye, and we left.

 

We got off the Trace at Cherokee and drove through the town, not much to see.

Our next route headed toward Hawk Pride Mountain, where I had spent most of my early childhood.

I wanted to see how much it had changed since we left. Our home place had long been demolished, and another had been built. 

The gravel road that I once traveled was now paved (called Pride Road). 

We turned right onto New Bethel Road and drove past New Bethel Elementary School where I spent six years. 

The school building itself looked pretty much the same. The playground where I once played with swings, jump boards, & baseball fields were all gone.

The pine thicket where I once played was still there, and I thought to myself, do they still let the children play in the woods as I once did? The memories of donkey basketball games and cakewalks lingered in my thoughts. 

As I took out my camera to photograph the school building, I thought to myself. 

How I wished I could capture all those memories of long ago with my camera.

Time to leave those memories behind and head down the other side of the mountain on Frankfort Road, which led to Highway 72.

We traveled through Muscle Shoals, stopping at Mapco for fuel, and spent $31.00.

We crossed the Patton Island Bridge and stopped at Veterans Park to take pictures of the newly restored markers.

The newly restored markers were: AGM-28 Hound Dog Missiles, 16" Projectile, Purple Heart Marker, Anti-Tank Gun, Gooney Bird Propeller, WWII Anchor, the Honest John Rocket, The Hawk Missile, The Phantom, The Cobra Helicopter, and Lieutenant Colonel R. Edward Yeilding.

We then drove past this strange house in East Florence, and I tried to take pictures, but it was overgrown with weeds, bushes, and trees.

We still had enough time to get our hair cut at Cost Cutters, and haircuts on Tuesdays are $12.00  per cut all day.

What a beautiful day it was, and we saw so many sights. We drove to Lawrenceburg, Tn., down the Natchez Trace to Cherokee, through Tuscumbia, Muscle Shoals, Florence, and back to Killen. I said today we have come full circle in our adventures.

What will our next adventure be? Will it take us on a long journey, or will it be another day trip?

Or maybe I will take a trip alone. Who knows!

11/23/13